The 'Rapture' or 'the catching away of the Bride of Christ' is amply told in the Bible even though the Word 'RAPTURE' is not used.
There have been a number of Raptures in the Bible.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was the first person to be raptured (Genesis 5:24).
Elijah was also raptured (2nd Kings 2:9-11).
When the Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead, He went to heaven with the resurrected saints (that had died from Adam to that moment of Jesus' resurrection – Mathew 27:51-53).
1st Thessalonians 4:15-17 states:
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The above Scriptures speak of our Rapture, the Rapture of the end-time Bride. Of course, believers who died after the resurrection of the Lord will be in this rapture.
There is a popular but untrue perception that during the Rapture, people will visibly fly in the sky. Pilots that will be raptured, for instance, will have their planes uncontrolled, thereby causing mayhem etc. causing commotion in the world.This is artistic impression, not Biblical truth.
The Rapture will be a secret, sudden, catching away of the Bride. The world will know nothing about it. Good Bible students will only know there has been a Rapture when the Great Tribulation sets in.
Let's consider some truths and facts in the above Scriptures:
1. There are three phases to the Rapture: (a)the shout (b) the voice and (c) the trump.
The Shout is a ministry (Malachi 4:5,6) that precedes the Rapture just as the first coming of the Lord was preceded by a voice that cried in the wilderness (Mark 1:3).
The Voice is the Voice of resurrection which is in the Bride.
The Trump is the Trumpet that will call the Bride to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Lord does all the three.
2. Only the Bride of Christ (dead or alive) will make it for the Rapture. The Bride that will be alive will not prevent the Bride that are asleep (dead) from rising but will allow them to rise so that the two (those that have arisen from the dead and those that did not taste death) are raptured together.
3. There will not be a general resurrection in this resurrection. Only the dead in Christ shall rise. No mention was made of the resurrection of unbelievers who are dead. Neither was any mention made of unbelievers who are living. It is all about believers, dead or alive. The general resurrection ( including both unbelievers and the foolish virgins) will be at the third coming of the Lord (the second resurrection) where all eyes shall see Him (Revelation 1:7).
Let's consider another Scripture:
Revelation 20: 5, 6. It speaks of our resurrection (the first resurrection, which is secret and sudden).
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
1st Thessalonians 5:2 emphasizes the secret and sudden nature of this rapture:
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
The following Scriptures speak of the second resurrection, which is the general resurrection (the third coming of the Lord) where ALL that are in the grave (foolish virgin and sinners) shall rise to join the living (foolish virgin and sinners) to face the White Throne Judgement, where the foolish virgin will be saved and the sinner condemned to hell.
The Bride that will make it for the rapture in the first resurrection will not stand judgement in the second or general resurrection but will rather sit in judgement to judge with her Bridegroom, The Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said 'Know ye not that we shall judge angels?'
Mathew 25:31-46:
31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
The above Scriptures speak of the general resurrection where the foolish virgin who missed the first resurrection, will go through the Tribulation, and be saved at the White Throne Judgement.
They are those who will be separated from the sinners as a shepherd separates his sheep from goats.
Now we all know that John 5:28-29 is NOT THE RAPTURE for only the dead in Christ will arise from the graves at that time along with the living bride who still is on the earth.
It says in John 5:28-29 that ALL are going to come forth from the grave. This is the very same resurrection that is spoken of in Revelation 20:11-15 wherein THE DEAD were brought before the Lord and judged according to their works, and all whose names were not in the Book of Life were then cast into the lake of fire.
Brother Branham explains it better in his message AN EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN CHURCH AGES:
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The question now arises, why are these righteous ones in the judgment? There is no other place that they can come up, for there are but two resurrections and since they could not qualify for the first resurrection they must come up in the second which is a resurrection unto judgment. The ones who qualify for the first resurrection (the bride) are not in the judgment. John 5:24, "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life (that is, the believer is already the recipient of eternal life which he has in his possession now) and shall not come into condemnation (shall not come into the judgment, is what it really says) but is passed (permanently) from death unto life." But notice carefully, Jesus must have yet another group in mind who at a certain resurrection will receive eternal life. They will receive it at the resurrection, NOT HAVING PREVIOUSLY RECEIVED IT AS A MEMBER OF THE BRIDE.
John 5:28-29,
"Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice,
And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
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We now face the question as to why they should be given eternal life at the judgment since the Epistles seem to conclusively point out that one must possess the Spirit of Christ or perish. Though it seems thus, we must not discredit the words of Jesus Who most pointedly sets forth that there are some found in the Book of Life who will either receive eternal life before the general resurrection or after it.
Paul does not evade this truth for he most clearly says in Philippians 3:11,
"If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead."
Now this statement is most peculiar. We all know that we are ALL going to be in a resurrection whether we want to be or not. All will be resurrected. So Paul could hardly be saying, "If by ANY MEANS I might attain to a resurrection of the dead." The truth of the matter is, he is not saying that. The literal reading is, "If by any means I might attain to the 'out-resurrection' from among the dead." This is not the attaining to the general or second resurrection, but attaining to the first resurrection, of which is said, "Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years." The first resurrection has nothing to do with the second death. That is at the end of the thousand years when ALL THE REST of the dead live again. And in that day there will be those who come forth to eternal life and those others who are caught in the second death. Now we do not need to guess about those who in the second resurrection are given life. We are told it is given to them on the grounds that they have been kind and good to the "Brethren". Those who are raised and cast into the lake of fire will be so treated because of their mistreatment of the "Brethren". Since this is the Word of God we simply accept it. There is no argument here, just a simple statement of fact.